WIXLIB

Page 8May 13 — 19, 2015 The Trussville TribuneService projects move Scouts a step closer toearning Eagle rankinghe “wanted to give a little backto the wonderful teachers thathelped me through my middleschool years. This pavilion willgive teachers a great place tosit outside while eating lunch,doing their work planning, orjust to take a break.”White chose to build donationFrom Staff ReportsFive members of Boy ScoutTroop 128 in Trussville recentlycompleted community serviceprojects, bringing them one stepcloser to earning the rank of EagleScout, the highest advancementrank in Boy Scouting.Eagle Scout candidates JoshBrown, Alan Roper, BenjaminSuhr, Will Tortorice and JoshWhite have been in scoutingtogether for around 10 years,according to Alan’s mom,Bobbie Roper, and have not onlysupported each other throughouttheir ranks advancement, butalso helped each other with theirservice projects.“Each Scout (pursuing theEagle Scout rank) choosesa service project that wouldbenefit their community,” shesaid. “After their service projectsare complete, they sit before anEagle Scout Review Board todetermine whether they havemet all the criteria.”submitted photoJosh Whitesubmitted photoAlan Roper“Only five percent of Scoutsreach this level,” she explained.“To earn the rank of Eagle Scout,a Boy Scout must progressthrough five ranks, earn 21 meritbadges, serve six months in atroop leadership position andsuccessfully plan, develop andlead a service project in theircommunity.”Brown, the 16-year-old sonof Joel and Robin Brown, builtand permanently placed twoindustrial strength bike racks atthe Trussville Sports Complex.“With the Trussville Greenwaypath tying into the bike trailsaround the sports complex,”he said, “I chose the bike rackproject because there was a lackof safe places to park bikes.”As part of his project, he alsoplanted some flowering shrubson each side of the racks to makethe area more inviting.Roper, the son of Rick andBobbie Roper, built threebenches on the Cahaba ProjectMall near the tennis courts toreplace some damaged onesbordering the playground. Thesubmitted photoBen Suhrobservant 15-year-old said hechose this project because hisfamily spends a lot of time atthe mall playing tennis and flagfootball, and he one day noticedthat the parents of some kidsplaying on the playground oneday had no place to sit.“I chose to build the benchesout of recycled plastic materialswhich will not splinter and willprovide longevity,” he said. “Ihope the families of Trussvillewill enjoy these benches formany years to come.”Suhr, built covered benchesfor the courts at the TrussvilleRacquet Club, where the16-year-old and his mom playtennis. Hewitt’s tennis teamsalso play at the racquet club.“I noticed the dilapidatedstate of the benches on manyof the courts and decided thatthese benches would help alot of people and make a greatproject,” he said. “I built sixof the benches for three sets ofcourts.”Suhr is the son of Scott andTheresa Suhr.Tortorice built a coveredpavilion in the courtyard ofHewitt-TrussvilleMiddleSchool. The 13-year-old son ofChuck and Traci Tortorice saidhe chose this project becausesubmitted photoJosh Brownsubmitted photoWill Tortoriciecollection boxes on the trailheadsat Ruffner Mountain NaturePreserve.“I chose my project at RuffnerMountain because I lived onRuffner Road close to the parktrailhead when my family firstmoved to Birmingham,” he said.“As a four-year-old, I spent alot of time on the trails withmy dad and older brother, andI really enjoyed that time in theoutdoors.”The preserve trails are opento the public for running,hiking and enjoyment of nature.The donation boxes will givethe preserve some additionalfunding to protect and manageRuffner Mountain.The 16-year-old is the son ofJeff and Kim White.Chuck Tortorice serves asScoutmaster for Troop 128.1 in 4 children have a vision problem.Call us todayto set up anappointment.Honest, Reliable Plumbing and HVAC Services 24-Hour HVAC & Plumbing ServicesDr Samuel D. PierceDr Zachary B. SteeleDoctors of OptometryMember of AOA and ALOAEvening Appointments availableWe accept most major insurance plansCall for appointment655-4838 Unit Change-Outs New Construction No Overtime Charges Authorized Heil Dealerff your10% orvice!first seday!Call ToFor Service:(205) 229-2090Fax: (205) 951-3450with more than 75 homes and 22villages on tour - may 9 - 10, 16 - 17Built by FowlerCustom Homes, Inc.Located in ThePreserve in HooverOpen to the PublicThanks to our SponsorsAlabama Power - Alabama Media GroupRealty South - Alagasco - USAmeribankVisit www.BirminghamBuilder.com for more information

May 13 — 19, 2015 Page 9The Trussville TribuneLoss Of A Legend: Weather forecaster, J.B. Elliott has diedby James SpannSpecial to The erforecaster and Trussvilleresident J.B. Elliott diedon Monday at the ageof 82. The followingappears in The TrussvilleTribune with permissionfrom James Spann andAlabamawx.comWhen J.B.’s son Stevebroke the news to me thisafternoon, it almost tookmy breath away. Yes, weall know J.B.’s heath wasfailing, but I don’t thinkanyone expected his deathso soon.J.B. Elliott was bornApril 17, 1932, about onemonth after a generationaltornado outbreak thatkilledhundredsofAlabamians on March 21of that year. He would livethrough, and work two ofthose events in his longcareer; April 3, 1974, andApril 27, 2011.photo via Alabamawx.comLongtime weather pioneerand Trussville resident J.B.Elliott, 82, died on Monday.I could not ask for abetter role model in thefield of meteorology,living out the Christianfaith, or being a husbandand father.J.B. is a 32-year veteranof the National WeatherService. (It was known asthe U.S. Weather Bureauwhen he signed on in thespring of 1957.) Ironically,at the moment he arrived atthe office at BirminghamAirport for the very firstday on duty, a tornado wason the ground in WalkerCounty causing severalfatalities.J.B. spent his entireNWS career in theBirmingham office andwitnessed numerous majorAlabama weather events.He always was especiallyinterestedinsevereweather and spent manylong hours on duty duringadverse weather, includingtornadoes,hurricanes,snow events and icestorms. He worked for 17hours in a row without abreak during the famoustornado Super Outbreakof April 3, 4, 1974. Hewas also on duty as partof a team when a powerfulF5 tornado ripped acrossthe western section ofBirmingham in April,1977.It was known as theSmithfield tornado. Duringall his years in severeweather work, he wasawarded not only a U.S.Department of CommerceBronze Medal but also theSilver Medal.When growing up inWest Alabama’s Halephoto via Alabamawx.comJ.B. Elliott (left) with ABC 33/40 meteorologist JamesSpann (right).County (Havana Junction!)he always wanted to be aweatherman, newspaperreporter, radio broadcasteror photographer. Hiscareer in meteorology hasincluded all of that. Hewas one of the personsthat handled the NOAAWeather Radio broadcastsfrom the Weather Service.He was responsible forthousands of weatherstories, warnings andspecial feature items overthe years.As a kid, he built asmall radio “studio” inthe corner of his bedroomandpracticeddoingnewscasts, and of courseweather, with a wooden“microphone.” His mainsource of news was aday-old Birmingham AgeHerald, The TuscaloosaNews, The GreensboroWatchman and jottingdown items he heard onWJRD Radio, Tuscaloosa.He also printed a twopage weekly newspaper,“Hometown News” byREBATEhand and mailed a copyto relatives in Worcester,Massachusettsandcharged them five cents. Itcost three cents to mail it!.Of course weather wasoften the main headline.J.B. Elliott (left) withABC 33/40 meteorologistJames Spann (right). Photovia Alabamawx.comHe ordered a 4 plasticrain gauge from a catalog.His parents bought him a29-cent thermometer and a5-cent notebook. He startedkeeping weather recordsand was hooked. At AkronHigh School, one of histeachers, W.W. Duncan,was very interested inweather. He encouragedJ.B. to follow that andgave him an assignment tobrief the science class oncea week on all of the newdevelopments in weather.During his NWS career,J.B. was very active inphotographyandtheduty of photographingstorm damage sort ofdefaulted to him. In fact,for several years it was hisresponsibility to do stormsurveys and determine the“F” rating of a tornado, pathlength, width, fatalitiesand injuries for the officialNWS publication, StormData. The Super Outbreakin 1974 was an enormoustask.I met J.B. in the 1970swhen I was an electricalengineeringstudent,but with a true passionfor weather. We bondedinstantly, and during myearly days as a televisionweatheranchorinBirmingham at Channel13, we spent much timetogether, especially duringmy break between the6:00 and 10:00 newscast,and when he was alsoon the “night shift”. Hewas a friend, mentor, andfather figure to me. Mydad walked away from myfamily when I was 7 yearsold, so he filled a veryimportant role in my life.J.B. was always therewithanencouragingword, and some weatherknowledge for me to takeaway. It was that way whenhe worked for the NationalWeather Service, andwhen he worked for ourprivate weather companyafter his retirement fromgovernment work, whichcame in 1989.For many years J.B.would ride with meto school visits acrossAlabama. I cherish thestories and laughter weenjoyed on the roads lesstraveled.Many loved hearingJ.B. on our weekly show“WeatherBrains”, and hehad countless fans thatloved reading his afternoonweather discussion here onthe blog, along with theadventures of his beloveddog “Little Miss Molly”.J.B and his wife, Judy,were married for over50 years. She grew upinPhoenix, Arizona,Ironically, she and J.B.met out at the BirminghamAirport when she and her“boy friend” visited theweather office. They havetwo grown children and sixgrandchildren. Son, SteveElliott is a Birminghamand Center Point fireman.Daughter, Debbie Broomeand her husband, Robertlive in the Birminghammetro area.SC HEDULE COOKING up to 100 rebate to replace orconvert to a Natural Gas range orcooktop HEATING WATER HEATERS Replace Natural Gas with Natural Gas 300 to customer and 300 to HVAC DealerReplace Natural Gas to Natural Gasup to 350 credit on gas bill when replacing aNatural Gas water heater with another NaturalGas water heaterConverting from Electricity to Natural Gas 500 to customer and 500 to HVAC dealer6% interest with approved creditConverting from Electricity to Natural Gas(Available only by a Trussville Utilities Qualified Dealer)up to 350 credit for converting from Electric toNatural Gas and 450 towards installation(40 and 50 gallon)uoyodwHonraeottnaw?etabeRRYOU GAS LOGS 30 rebate DRYING 450 rebate to convert to a Natural Gas dryer; 100 to replaceRebate good for six (6) months from purchase dateTRUSSVILLEGas and Water205.655.3211 www.Trussville.com